IRAQ: MILITIAMEN LOYAL TO RADICAL CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR ATTACK ALCOHOL SHOPS IN BASRA

Record ID: 355488

  • Title: IRAQ: MILITIAMEN LOYAL TO RADICAL CLERIC MOQTADA AL-SADR ATTACK ALCOHOL SHOPS IN BASRA
  • Date: 26th July 2004
  • Summary: (W5) BASRA, IRAQ (JULY 26, 2004)(REUTERS) 1. LV OF MEHDI ARMY MILITIA FIRING OFF GUNS IN STREET 0.24 2. SV MEHDI ARMY MILITIMAN STANDING IN STREET 0.33 3. SV/SLV MILITIA MEN INSIDE CAR, CHANTING, CAR DRIVES OFF (2 SHOTS) 0.43 4. LV OF MILITIA MEN ON STREET, ONE THROWS BOX OF ALCOHOL ONTO STREET, OTHERS STAMP ON THE ALCOHOL 0.58
  • Embargoed: 10th August 2004 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BASRA, IRAQ
  • Country: Iraq
  • Reuters ID: LVA9BYTWGJ9N2CBDKJ0NQONRW36W
  • Story Text: Militiamen loyal to radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr
    attack alcohol shops in southern Iraqi city of Basra.



    Masked radical Shi'ite militiamen on Monday (July
    26, 2004) attacked and damaged a number of alcohol and drugs
    warehouses in the southern city of Basra.

    Witnesses said a group of 100 masked militiamen went on
    the rampage and raided a number of alcohol shops in Bashar
    Street in the old Basra area, breaking dozens of liquor
    bottles before building a bonfire and setting the alcohol
    on fire.

    They said that the group also stormed houses and
    arresting a number of owners of alcohol shops. Police did
    not interfere in the raids.

    Alcohol sellers have been coming under increasing
    attack in Iraq since shortly after last year's U.S.-led
    invasion.

    Mehdi Army is the militia loyal to the young firebrand
    cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

    Sadr's men are no longer fighting American and interim
    Iraqi government troops, and some suspect they are now
    channelling their energies into a moral battle instead.

    Secular Iraqis boast that Iraq had the first brewery in
    the Middle East.

    In Basra, as in much of Iraq, the sale of alcohol
    has always been the profitable realm of the Christian
    community. During the battle for the city, and even after
    Saddam Hussein's forces fled in April last year and looters
    descended, the Christian liquor dealers never closed their
    doors. Amid war and chaos, there was still a market for
    whiskey and beer.

    Fearing attacks by suspected Muslim groups, a liquor
    warehouse in Baghdad were closed after attack on a number
    of alcohol shops. Unlike many Muslim countries, alcohol is not
    illegal in Iraq although it is sold only by non-Muslims, generally
    Christians and Assyrians and not in a very open way.

    Towards the end of his rule, in a bid to identify
    himself more closely with the increasingly religious Muslim
    majority, Saddam cracked down on alcohol selling but the
    practice continued. Since his fall, Muslim extremists
    appear to be taking advantage of widespread lawlessness to
    enforce their own moral codes - on Christians as well as
    Muslims - with the blessing of some religious leaders.

    And it's not only the selling of alcohol that appears
    to have incited people's wrath. There have also been
    threats against beauty parlours as well as CD and DVD
    stores deemed to be selling morally offensive material.

    Leaflets have regularly been posted under shop doors
    threatening owners to stop business, or face the
    consequences.


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